


People and Horses

by florapaw



Category: The Phantom Stallion Series - Terri Farley
Genre: Character Study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-02-08 04:46:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12857034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/florapaw/pseuds/florapaw
Summary: Ryan reflects on his new life.





	People and Horses

**Author's Note:**

> repost of an old character study that ive since deleted from fanfiction.net

The warm, velvety fur beneath his hand and the smell of perspiration were a comfort in the unknown vast of Nevada’s desert. He was an outsider. Hanging on by a thin string were the commonalities; the wipe of a sweaty brow, a gentle rub of the horse as your legs swung to the ground, the bright-eyed smile when the rain rolled over after a dragging drought. But Ryan was more intruder. Paled skin burning red under the Nevadan sun. The lilt of his voice clashing with the drawl of his neighbours.

Smiles and pleasantries were no match against the stickiness in his chest – clenching his heart for his mother and his _home_. His mother sent letters, promising that kisses were pressed to the pages before they were sent halfway across the world. The letters held onto sweet memories of good morning hugs and the motherly brush of his hair, of freshly baked cakes and cookies and a laugh he was so used to.

Friends came like a hurricane. Jen, all bashful grins and flushed cheeks and contrasting colours. Sam, serious smiles and a hunger to protect her lost stallion. A whirlwind of advice pricked at his ego of knowledge. Horses and the truths that he came along with were all he had in the unknown.

His father was someone he had grown to dislike. Not hate at all. Just _dislike_. Disrespect for the only thing he knew, something he loved with his whole heart, pulsed anger in his veins. He may look like his father, but Rachel was more like Linc than he was. The same sneer twisted the innocent smiles he remembered from his youth.

_So where does leave me?_

Hands stroked down Hotspot’s quivering flank, her soft nose pressing into the crook of his neck and lipping at his newly-freckled skin. He pushed the fringe of her mane back and kissed her warm forehead. Smiling against the deep brown. Smiling proudly at the actualities of his new life.


End file.
